From The President

“Civil Disobedience” – do these words ring bell? Yes, it was
an integral part of India’s freedom struggle. A totally non-violent way of
protesting against British Rule in India!

Something similar happened in Egypt last month. People in
thousands protested nonviolently against thirty years of autocratic rule of
President Hosni Mubarak at Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other centres for weeks and
in less than one month, Mubarak stepped down yielding to the pressure of the
people for democracy. Indeed, the media played its role very successfully in a
short span of time. Youngsters, with the help of social networking media, like
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., managed to spread the message like wild fire.
They were able to take the army on their side and that was a significant
achievement. The winds of freedom then spread across various other Arab
countries in the Middle East encompassing Bahrain, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, etc.
All these countries are still being ruled by dictators/kings for decades.
Evidently, the underlying spirit in these uprisings is desire for
freedom/democracy. It is said that man is born free. Freedom is the latent
desire of every human being and is recognised as a fundamental right under the
Indian Constitution, amongst numerous others in the world.

One of champions of human freedom in modern times in India
was the legal luminary late Mr. Nani A. Palkhivala who successfully fought the
case of Kesavananda Bharti vs. State of Kerala before the Supreme Court and made
history. One of the Judges commented: “Never in the history of the Court has
there been a performance like that. With his passionate plea for human freedom
and irrefutable logic, he convinced the Court that the earlier Kesavananda
Bharti case judgment should not be reversed.” Rajaji described him as, “God’s
gift to India”. In his fond memory, the Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Trust, gives
a “Civil Liberties Award” every year. The award was presented this year to
Padmashri Chaman Lal – a brilliant, honest and upright former IPS officer for
protection and preservation of civil liberties in various capacities. He was
instrumental in combating terrorism in the Punjab and ensuring free and fair
elections post operation Blue Star, worked with a difference as the Director
General of Police in Nagaland for which he was given the “Friend of North East”
Award by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in 2004. The moot point here is
that
we still have people in India who can and are upholding the values of freedom
and civil liberties of high order.

One of the surest ways to make humans “free” is by imparting
value based education. “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of
freedom” said George Washington Carver. Indeed, education opens up one’s mind as
one is able to read, contemplate and assimilate frozen thoughts and wisdom from
tomes. Our great leaders of freedom struggle are standing monumental examples.
In his annual address to the US Congress at Capitol Hill, President Obama noted
that India would emerge as a Super power in the decades to come, as it believes
in investing vast resources in its educational endeavour, as knowledge is power.
In order to empower the destitute and poor children of our society and bring
about a difference in their lives, the BCAS Foundation in association with
Public Concern for Governing Trust (PCGT) and the Dharma Bharathi Mission, has
decided to launch a novel project called “Teach English”. Under this mission
children from select Municipal and other schools would be taught conversational
English for three months, with one class every week for a duration of three
hours. Volunteers would be trained to teach English. The project has received
overwhelming response from members and their friends and/or families. If you
would like to contribute your services to this noble cause and to redeem your
debt to the society, you are indeed welcome to join the project. Please write to
the undersigned for any information thereon,
at president@bcasonline.org.

It is heartening to note that in the Union Budget 2011-12,
the Government have laid emphasis on the need for universal access to secondary
education as well as increasing the percentage of students acquiring higher
education and skilled training. The allocation for this purpose is Rs. 52,057
crores, which is 24% higher than the current year – a great welcome move indeed.
The implementation of the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”, the Centrally Sponsored
Scheme “Vocationalisation of Secondary Education” to improve the employability
of our youth and pre-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes, are some of the other highly commendable initiatives taken in
the field of education. But what is going to change the scenario is the linking
of 1500 Institutes of Higher Learning and Research in the Country through an
optical fibre backbone to be in place by 31st March 2012 under the National
Knowledge Network (NKN). This would facilitate geographical spread of education
and knowledge seamlessly. It would create the National Knowledge Sharing
Platform and if implemented rightly, may well become a powerful knowledge bank
of unusual dimensions.

Whereas food inflation at 20% and fiscal deficit at 5.1% of
GDP are matters of grave concern, the Economic Survey unveils some reassuring
statistics. The growth of Indian economy at 8.6 % proves that Indian Economy is
on the growth track. The Union Budget 2011-12, envisages several legislations
and numerous reforms are expected in the Financial Sector. The scope of Service
Tax and Excise has been widened. The growing awareness about the environment and
the launch of a ten-year “Green India Mission” is a welcome move. As expected,
not many changes are made in the area of Direct Taxes, in view of the Direct
Taxes Code on the anvil. Concrete measures have been proposed in the Finance
Bill to unearth black money of Indians abroad through introduction of provisions
compelling assesses to provide details of transactions with persons located in
any country or jurisdiction which does not effectively exchange information with
India.

Cricket fever is on along with examination fever. I can
imagine how difficult it is for students to balance between the two. I wonder
how Government could allow playing cricket during examination season, since
cricket has now become more of an entertainment than a sport, which it ought
tobe!

All the same, I wish all students best of luck in their
endeavour.

Regards,

Mayur Nayak